For anyone advising students on teacher education, this is the number that matters: in a year when the average CAO course went up 5.9 points, every primary teaching degree in the country went down.
| Course | College | 2026 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Education and Psychology - Primary Teaching (MI008) | Mary Immaculate, Limerick | 554 | 578 | -24 |
| Education - Primary Teaching, Froebel (MH001) | Maynooth | 495 | 506 | -11 |
| Education - Primary Teaching (MI005) | Mary Immaculate, Limerick | 475 | 484 | -9 |
| Education - Primary Teaching (DC002) | DCU | 473 | 485 | -12 |
| Education - Primary Teaching (CM001) | Marino Institute | 462 | 473 | -11 |
| Education - Primary Teaching, International (MI004) | Mary Immaculate, Limerick | 462 | 552 | -90 |
The Mary Immaculate International programme's 90-point collapse is the largest fall in Irish teacher education this year, and one of the ten largest drops in the entire 2026 CAO table.
Across all 54 comparable education courses, the average change was -1.0 points, with a median of zero, in a year when almost every other discipline moved upward.
Why this is happening
CAO application data pointed to it months ago: while applications rose overall, the year finished with 95,710 applicants, 6,402 more than 2025, and education applications rose about 7% in aggregate, primary teaching specifically recorded a decline. The growth in education applications was in post-primary, where first preferences rose about 12%.
The reasons behind that shift are widely discussed in the sector and not seriously in dispute: entry to primary teaching carries a specific Irish requirement that narrows the applicant pool, the four-year concurrent degree is a longer commitment than many alternatives, and accommodation costs in Dublin and Limerick weigh on a course that requires placement travel on top of term-time living costs. Whether the fall reflects a genuine drop in interest in the profession or simply students spreading across a wider set of routes into it is the question the sector will be arguing about for the next twelve months.
Post-primary went the other way, hard
The contrast within teacher education is stark. While primary fell, several post-primary concurrent programmes rose sharply:
| Change | Course | College | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +64 | Education - Gaeilge (CK124) | UCC | 462 | 398 |
| +54 | Post-Primary Teaching - Home Economics and Technology (DC016) | DCU | 421 | 367 |
| +44 | Languages - concurrent Teacher Education (LM091) | UL | 451 | 407 |
| +30 | Post-Primary Teacher Education - Religious Education (DC012) | DCU | 440 | 410 |
| +24 | Science and Mathematics Education (DC203) | DCU | 467 | 443 |
| +22 | Graphics and Construction Technology (LM094) | UL | 477 | 455 |
| +22 | Graphics, Engineering and Technology (LM095) | UL | 421 | 399 |
| +18 | Post-Primary - Technology, Engineering and Graphics (DC015) | DCU | 420 | 402 |
Notice what those subjects have in common. Graphics, construction technology, engineering, home economics and technology, the post-primary programmes rising fastest are the ones that sit alongside the construction and engineering boom driving the rest of the 2026 table. Students choosing teaching are choosing the subjects that feel like they have momentum.
UCC's Education - Gaeilge rising 64 points is the standout, and cuts directly against the assumption that the Irish requirement is what is deterring applicants from teaching.
The exceptions in the falls
Two science and maths teaching routes fell hard: UCC Science Education -46 (520 → 474) and University of Galway Arts (Mathematics and Education) -52 (423 → 371). UCD Education fell 33 (455 → 422).
Early childhood education split almost perfectly down the middle, and where it rose, it rose enormously. DkIT Early Childhood Education +84 (243 → 327), TUS Athlone Early Childhood Education and Care +68, TUS Limerick +68, ATU Letterkenny +69 (163 → 232), TU Dublin Grangegorman +39. Meanwhile Maynooth's Early Childhood - Teaching and Learning fell 34 and MTU Kerry fell 32.
What this means for students and the people advising them
If you want primary teaching and you're in Fifth Year: the entry bar is lower than it has been in years, 462 at Marino and Mary Immaculate's international route, 473 at DCU, 475 at Mary Immaculate. Do not let a 2023-era assumption about "you need 500-plus for primary" shape your CAO form. It is not true this year.
If you're a guidance counsellor: the Irish requirement remains the practical gate, not the points. A student who meets the Irish requirement and has around 470 points is now a realistic candidate for four of the six programmes above. That is a different conversation from the one you were having two years ago.
If you're a parent worried this signals something about the profession: be careful drawing that conclusion from one year. Post-primary applications rose 12% in the same cycle, and the technology and Gaeilge routes rose sharply. The demand shifted within teaching more than it left it.
And if you missed a teaching course today: points that fall in Round 1 have historically had less room to fall further, but it still happens, 215 courses dropped after Round 1 last year. Leave your CAO order alone and wait for Round 2.
Teacher education has more entry requirements than almost any other route, Irish, maths, specific subject combinations. CourseCompass checks your subjects against every requirement automatically, so you find out now rather than in August. Try the free CAO points calculator.
Data and verification. 2026 points are the Central Applications Office's own Round 1 lists for Level 8 and Level 7/6 courses (retrieved 26 August 2026, checksum-verified on two separate downloads). 2025 points are the CAO's published 2025 points charts. All 1,395 courses in the 2026 lists are covered, plus 42 courses listed in 2025 that are not offered this year. Every figure quoted in this article was machine-checked against that dataset. Sampled 2026 and 2025 values were independently confirmed against the entry-points lists published by Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and University of Galway, 42 of 42 matched. Year-on-year change is calculated only where a course was scored on the same basis in both years.